The Bemidji State women’s hockey team wasn’t going to let the off-ice drama get in their way of the task at hand on Saturday afternoon in Duluth.
Assistant Captain Stephanie Anderson said her coach, Jim Scanlan, told the team before hitting the ice that the first five minutes were going to be crucial to how the game will go. The Beavers did exactly what was asked of them; they hit the ice and took control of the energy by just playing what they call, “Beaver Hockey.”
The Beavers struck first in a goal that came late in the opening stanza. Whitney Wivoda took advantage of some hard work by a trio of her teammates. Ciscely Nelson battled at the wall trying to keep the puck inside the offensive zone. When the puck popped out to neutral ice, Emma Terres was there to steal it away from a Bulldog player and send it back in to Madison Hutchinson who got it to Stephanie Anderson. Wivoda picked it free, stick handled around a couple of UMD skaters and backhanded it past their goaltender.
UMD answered back in the second period, but the Beavers didn’t allow them to shift the momentum. BSU answered back less than four minutes later. Ivana Bilic started an offensive rush from her own blueline and passed the puck up to Kaitlyn Tougas who used her speed and puck skills to beat the UMD goalie.
The Beavers would tack on another goal in the second period on their second power play attempt of the game. Kristin Huber tipped in a shot that came in from the Bulldog blueline off the stick of Alexis Joyce to make it a 3-1 game at the end of two periods.
Stephanie Anderson sealed the deal for the Beavers with the team’s second powerplay goal of the game with just 3:09 to play in regulation.
The Beavers won 4-1 despite being outshot 38-25 by UMD.
Bemidji State special teams were spot on as they shut down the Bulldog powerplay and went 2 for 5 on the extra attacker.
Bemidji State goaltender Brittni Mowat made 37 saves for her 11th win of the season.
BSU is now 13-9-1 overall and 8-8-1-1 in WCHA play this season moving them ahead of UMD into 4th place in the league.
The Beavers prepare for game two on Sunday at 3:07pm and look for their first ever sweep of UMD. Catch all the action on the Beaver Radio Network beginning with the Benusa Pregame Show at 2:30pm.